Soviet to Allow Coca-Cola Sale

AP

Published: January 24, 1985

ATLANTA, Jan. 23—
The Coca-Cola Company said today that it had been given permission to sell Coca-Cola in the Soviet Union this year in a deal that breaks Pepsico Inc.'s monopoly on cola sales there. Donald R. Keough, president of Coca-cola, recently completed a week of meetings with Soviet officials in Moscow, working out the details.

Coke is already sold in more than 155 countries. Coke will first go on sale in the Soviet Union through shops that serve tourists, the diplomatic corps and visitors to the Soviet Union, the company said. It said consumers on the Soviet domestic market should be able to buy Coke in Moscow and other cities by summer. Pepsi-Cola, Coke's chief competitor in the soft drink market, has been available in the Soviet Union since 1973. James Griffith, a spokesman at Pepsico's headquarters in Purchase, N.Y., said the company had no comment on Coke's announcement.